As was pointed out in Applicant's U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/611,598, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,740,628, crime is serious problem confronting modern society. Burglary and forced entry into buildings are of major concern to families, businesses and organizations. Such crimes can result in theft, property damage, personal injury, or more serious harm.
Security doors and windows are a well known means of preventing criminals from entering a building through a building opening. Security doors and windows typically consist of heavy metal bars or grates that are placed over a window or door opening to prevent criminals from entering the building. These security systems are typically secured to the building opening in a permanent manner (i.e., they are not removable). U.S. Pat. No. 4,162,590 (Earley), U.S. Pat. No. 3,871,151 (Der Estephanian) and U.S. Pat. No. 1,657,908 (Wulftange) are examples of permanently-mounted security bars or grates.
While permanently-mounted security bars may prevent criminals from breaking into a building they also present serious safety concerns for people in the building. For example, security bars may prevent egress in the event of an emergency such as a fire. A person inside the structure who would normally escape the fire by exiting through a basement or ground floor window could find his or her means of egress blocked.
In response to this serious safety problem, others have sought to develop security bars which can be removed in the event of an emergency. U.S. Pat. No. 5,339,567 (Pierpont), U.S. Pat. No. 5,269,096 (Hade), U.S. Pat. No. 4,653,226 (Woodrow), U.S. Pat. No. 1,507,478 (Gray) and U.S. Pat. No. 999,682 (Suits) are all examples of removable security devices.
However, these removable security bar devices all have certain disadvantages. For example, Pierpont, Hade, Gray and Suits each secure their bars with a key-actuated lock located near the window opening. Operation of a lock would be impossible if the key were lost or misplaced. In addition, operation of a lock may be beyond the ability of a person who is panicking in an emergency situation such as a fire or criminal home invasion. Minimally, a person in a state of panic would require excessive time to actuate the lock; such time may not be available in an emergency. It is advantageous for the security bars to be secured in a manner not requiring a lock.
At the same time that security bars can keep criminals out, they can also serve the beneficial purpose of keeping small children and pets in by preventing them from falling out of the window. This is an unfortunate but very real problem in high-rise apartment buildings where families with children and pets are present. While the security bars should be easy for an adult to remove, they should be difficult for a child to remove.
A security system which would prevent ingress through a building window (with or without a locking device) which would be easy for an adult to remove so that people could exit the building in the case of an emergency, yet which would be relatively difficult for a child to remove would represent an important advance in the art.